Today’s Daily Cup of Joe does a fairly deep dive on a couple topics related to Elias Lindholm and Jaccob Slavin. Elias Lindholm I actually have two completed unrelated thoughts on Elias Lindholm. Face-off woes on the road The first has to do with face-offs. The Hurricanes had some trouble in the face-off dot on the just completed four-game road trip. The Hurricanes won 55 percent of draws against Winnipeg and 54 percent against Calgary, but only 40 percent and 39 percent respectively against Edmonton and Dallas. Lindholm especially struggled. After winning 4 of 7 in Winnipeg, he then went 2 of 6, 2 of 7 and 0 of 7 in the final three games of the trip totaling to only 30 percent for the trip and much worse over the last three games. This one is definitely one for the video scouts to take a look at to see if the rest of the league is onto something in terms of finding a hole in Lindholm’s approach on the road where he is required to put his stick down first giving his opponent the opportunity to adjust accordingly. From watching the games but not honing in on Lindholm’s face-offs, it is not clear to me if there is something going on tactically by the opponents or if quite possibly Lindholm just hit a bit of a slump on the road where it is tougher anyway. But I think 30 percent for four games is probably enough to warrant a quick check by one of the video scout/coaches to see if they can uncover a root cause, and...

Waking up Monday a full week past the start of NHL free agency, the off-season seemed very clearly headed into the desert of the off-season when news is sparse and many days are just better designed for taking a small break from Canes hockey to recharge for the next season. Monday and Tuesday met that expectation, but after that things became interesting and then downright wild. On Wednesday, the Hurricanes announced a deal that extended Jaccob Slavin and stretched his commitment to a Carolina Hurricanes uniform to eight years counting the one year remaining on his existing contract. Then just when the Hurricanes hockey community was coming off the high from Wednesday and dialing back down to mid-July hockey nothingness, even bigger news or almost news anyway lit Canes Twitter up like Fourth of July fireworks. In the middle of the afternoon on Thursday, a rumor popped on Twitter saying that the Hurricanes were close to being sold to Chuck Greenberg for something in the neighborhood of $500 million. Not surprisingly this week’s version of Sunday Canes Chronicle features a heavy dose of Jaccob Slavin, Chuck Greenberg and the possibility of the team being sold. Jaccob Slavin and his seven-year extension NHL.com’s NHL Tonight appropriately featuring the owner of the greatest save in Hurricanes history, Kevin Weekes, discussed the Slavin deal and finished with a short video interview with Slavin from his car. Cory Lavalette from the North State Journal wrote about the Slavin signing including a few quotes from both Jaccob Slavin and Ron Francis. Andrew Schnittker at NC State’s Technician shared his thoughts on why he...

Today it was announced that the Carolina Hurricanes had extended Jaccob Slavin by signing him to a 7-year contract for $5.3 million per year. Counting 2017-18 on his entry-level contract, Jaccob Slavin is now set to be a cornerstone of the team’s defense through 2024-25. He is now scheduled to be on the Carolina Hurricanes roster for longer than any other player, passing Jordan Staal who is signed through 2022-23. At the most basic level, this is great news. Slavin and partner Brett Pesce both took massive steps up in terms of role and level of play for the second consecutive season in 2016-17 and grew to become a solid top pairing way ahead of schedule. And in the process, General Manager Ron Francis has now knocked out the top three of my “5 Carolina Hurricanes predictions for the offseason” from my article way back on April 20, 2017. Jaccob Slavin’s contract Jaccob Slavin’s salary My early math and propensity to always look for a bargain had Slavin’s contract coming in a bit lower. I had optimistically hoped for a bargain in the $4-4.5 million range. Part of the difference is the 7-year term (I was using 5 as a baseline). Buying out a couple unrestricted free agency years in years six and seven and accounting for salary inflation makes up part of the difference. In addition, I think salaries are just escalating right now. McDavid’s deal bumped up the overall ceiling and the volume of $7 millions and $8 millions being thrown around for players below the top tier is also pulling prices up. Where I land...

For anyone catching up, a menu of previous player (and also coaching and GM) report cards can be found at the bottom of the article. Jaccob Slavin’s starting point for the 2016-17 season After making development strides in his third season with the Chicago Steel in the USHL and then two seasons at Colorado College after being drafted in the fourth round of the 2012 NHL draft, Slavin signed his NHL entry-level contract and moved to the professional level for the 2015-16 season. He had a strong training camp, made an impression that suggested he was closer to NHL-ready maybe than expected but ultimately departed for the AHL at the end of camp. After a short 14-game stint in Charlotte, Jaccob Slavin was called up from the AHL and made his NHL debut on November 20, 2016. Initially, Slavin looked comfortable and capable in a third pairing role, and he progressed rapidly from that modest starting point. From the point when Justin Faulk first went down with an injury before a game on February 12, Slavin averaged an even 24:00 of ice time in a top pairing role and grew to become the team’s best defenseman down the stretch. The run of about 30 games was eye-opening and had Slavin clearly on an upward trajectory heading into the 2016-17 season. Jaccob Slavin’s 2016-17 season with the Carolina Hurricanes As impressive as Slavin was in the second half of the 2015-16, he entered the 2016-17 season with only 63 games of NHL experience. With the departure of John-Michael Liles at the 2016 trade deadline and no top half of...

First, it important to remind everyone that nothing needs to happen contract-wise with Jaccob Slavin this summer nor is it a red flag if he just pushes forward into the 2017-18 season on his current deal. He is already under contract for 2017-18. But I am on record as thinking that Ron Francis should and will extend Jaccob Slavin early. On April 6, 2016, my Daily Cup of Joe article made the case to re-sign Jaccob Slavin early both based on his individual situation but also significantly because of his contract’s ability to set a ceiling and pave the way for pricing the run of defensemen contracts coming in the next few years. On April 20, I included a Slavin re-signing in my article entitled, “5 Carolina Hurricanes predictions for the offseason.” His contract situation was also discussed in my article this week detailing the the Hurricanes NHL-level free agents to be addressed this summer. This article will take a fairly thorough look at comparable players, analyze the price range for his next contract and take a shot at predicting the terms of his next deal if it does in fact happen this summer. Three kinds of comparables for Jaccob Slavin In going team by team through the salary charts on CapFriendly, one thing that jumps out is how many players fall roughly into the category of “young-ish defenseman playing in the top 4 on contracts that lock them up long-term.” A few players are sort of borderline and maybe not as relevant, but I have a spreadsheet with 39 players on it. At a basic level, there is...